The present invention relates to a surgical instrument comprising a handling part and a tool part, wherein the tool part comprises at least one movably mounted tool, which is actuable by means of a force-transmitting and/or actuating mechanism that is operable from the handling part, and that the force-transmitting and/or actuating mechanism comprises a fluid-operable drive unit.
Surgical instruments of the initially described type are known for example in the form of bone punches for the removal of bone, cartilage or similar tissue. The drawback of the known bone punches is that sensitive actuation of the movably mounted tool by means of the fluid-operable drive unit is either possible only to a limited extent or even totally impossible. The reason for this is that the drive unit can either be loaded with a fluid flow of specific pressure or not. This however has the disadvantageous consequence that, in the event of actuation of the actuating mechanism, the instrument is generally transferred abruptly from an inoperative or basic position into a working position or vice versa. This may lead for example to a bone punch removing, not a desired tissue area, but a tissue area lying adjacent thereto.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a surgical instrument of the initially described type which may be operated as sensitively as possible.